Public Contracting Institute Blog
The Public Contracting Institute blog supplement our govcon training offerings with insightful articles written by leading professionals across the government contracts industry. Our professionals publish articles on topics on government contracts administration, accounting, bids/proposals, disputes, claims, and much more. For more inforamation about our blog, reach out to seminars@publiccontractinginstitute.com.
Additionally, look for the PCI Practical Matters Podcast, coming soon! It will cover the latest news in our industry, along with insightful commentary on the most important topics in Government Contracting.
GAO DECISIONS MAY NOT BE BINDING, BUT THEY CANNOT BE IGNORED
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant and Retired Attorney Government contracts professionals know that the decisions on bid protests issued by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) are only recommendations to procuring agencies, and therefore, are not...
SIZE PROTEST RELATED TO LONG TERM CONTRACT MAY ONLY BE FILED AT THREE STAGES
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant and Retired Attorney The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals (“OHA”) reiterated in a recent protest that in a long term contract, such a 5 year multiple award contract (“MAC”) or a General Services...
IGNORING A BOARD ORDER: FAILURE TO PROSECUTE
IGNORING A BOARD ORDER: FAILURE TO PROSECUTE By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant & Retired Attorney. Both the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“ASBCA”) and the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) have clear rules that permit the boards to take...
CONFIDENCE DECREASERS
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant and Retired Attorney In a recent technical evaluation in a procurement by the Department of Homeland Security for cybersecurity services, instead of assigning strengths and weaknesses in each technical area, the the agency assigned...
CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF AWARD
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant Should you read the Governmentwide point of entry (“GPE”) every day? Of course, if you have an offer pending. The GPE is considered constructive notice to contractors and offerors. The GPE is located at https://www.sam.gov, and is...
CLAIMS COURT WILL NOT ENFORCE GAO RULE REQUIRING OFFERORS TO NOTIFY AGENCY OF A CHANGE IN KEY PERSONNEL
By Richard Lieberman, Consultant In a recent decision, Judge Solomson of the Court of Federal Claims declined to follow the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) rule that offerors are obligated to advise agencies of material changes in proposed key staffing, even...
ARE UNPAID PROMISSSORY NOTES “INCURRED COSTS?”
By Richard Lieberman, Consultant In an interesting case, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“ASBCA”) was asked to rule on a government claim seeking to deny payment to Cellular Materials International, Inc. for $206,416 in general and administrative...
IMPOSSIBILITY IS NOT A DEFENSE TO A DEFAULT IF CONTRACTOR FAILS TO EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant A termination for default or a termination for cause requires the government to bear the burden of proof that its action was justified. If the agency presents a prima facie case that the termination was proper, the contractor must...
What Constitutes a Final Contracting Officer’s Decision?
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant and Retired Attorney In an interesting case, the Armed Services Board concluded that a contractor had appealed every single final contracting officer (“CO”) decision that could conceivably be construed as a final CO decision on a...
IN BID PROTEST, FEDERAL CIRCUIT HOLDS THERE IS NO PRESUMPTION OF PREJUDICE WHEN AGENCY MAKES IRRATIONAL AWARD
By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant Recently, the Federal Circuit clearly stated that there is no presumption of prejudice whenever the Court of Federal Claims determines that the agency acted irrationally in making an award decision. Systems Studies &...
